Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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In these last few difficult days in Israel, there is a moment that I cannot shake. I'm sitting on the sofa talking to my husband who is abroad on a work trip, and suddenly, unexpectedly, the siren goes off. It's nearly 9pm, and the only sound we can hear is that awful rising and falling wail. My middle son and I start to run for the shelter, and as we go by the window, we see not one, not two, but five, six, seven missiles heading in our direction. Bright lights streaking through the sky from th...
(JNS) - A heavy rocket barrage fired by Gazan terror factions at central Israel killed an Israeli woman in Rishon Letzion and injured more than 20 civilians in multiple locations. In Holon, eight people were injured and taken to hospital, two in serious condition, said Israeli paramedics. Five civilians sustained light injures in Givatayim, east of Tel Aviv. "United Hatzalah volunteers treated a bus driver who was seriously injured by a rocket that exploded near his bus in Holon, as well as six...
(JTA) - In the seven years since the last war in Gaza, Israel and Hamas have repeatedly come close to reigniting the conflict. But the peace on the Gaza border has largely held - until this week. Since the end of Israel's last major offensive in the summer of 2014, there has been unrest in Jerusalem and elsewhere, terror attacks across Israel and protests on the Gaza border that turned deadly. Many of the tensions that have bubbled up in recent weeks between Israelis and Palestinians are not new...
(LOS ANGELES) - With Israel's citizens under massive Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist rocket attacks, the Israeli-American Council and other American Jewish groups organized rallies on May 12 across America in solidarity with Israel and its people. As the violence in Israel worsened, the IAC issued an "emergency call to action" to "Stand with Israel" and "stand up against terror." In Orlando, Idit Lotringer, director of IAC Orlando, and Keith Dvorcik, CEO of the Jewish Federation, quickly...
JFS Orlando's Pearlman Emergency Food Pantry began receiving food donations once again from Sprouts Farmers Market at Winter Park Corners. For the majority of last year, all food donation pick-ups from grocery partners were suspended due to safety concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the absence of these grocer donations, JFS Orlando purchased additional food from Second Harvest Food Bank, https://www.restaurantji.com/fl/orlando/second-harvest-food-bank-of-central-florida-/ which allowed...
The application deadline for the 2021 Kobrin Family Scholarship has been extended to July 15, 2021. This college scholarship is awarded to a qualified, full-time student in the Jewish communities of Orange, Osceola or Seminole County who will be attending the University of Central Florida. The scholarship is available in the amount of $2,500 per year for a maximum of four (4) years. To learn more and apply, visit www.jfsorlando.org/kobrin-family-scholarship. Students should mail their completed applications to JFS Orlando (2100 Lee Road,...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Saying that Israel has a right to defend itself, President Joe Biden has sent his top Israeli-Palestinian negotiator to the region in a bid to deescalate the deepening conflict there. During a White House news conference Wednesday (May 12) afternoon, Biden said he had just spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had an “expectation and hope” that the conflict would end soon. “My national security staff and Defense staff has been in constant contact with their counterparts in the Middle East — not just with...
(JTA) — A rocket from Gaza killed a 5-year-old child in the Israeli city of Sderot, bringing Israel’s death toll to seven in its exchanges of fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In Gaza, 83 people have died, including 14 children, according to Save the Children, an aid group with a Gaza office. In addition, four Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank this week. Alongside the fighting between Israel and Hamas, several people have been wounded in clashes that have raged inside Israel between crowds of Arabs and...
(JNS) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) rebuked U.S. President Joe Biden over his statement supporting Israel’s right to defend itself amid escalating violence with Hamas, accusing the president of “siding with occupation.” Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, letting him know that Israel has the “unwavering support” of the United States to defend itself. “I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu not too long ago,” said the president. “My expectation and hope is that this will be closing down soon...
In the wake of a barrage of 250 missiles launched from Gaza into Israel, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin invited citizens from the Gaza “envelope” (periphery) area and greater southern Israel to his official Jerusalem residence, Beit Hanasi. “Dear families, groups of children and adults from the Gaza envelope and the areas under missile attack, you are invited to the President’s House to enjoy the educational and experiential tours of the visitor center. The President’s House will provide extra tours to help relieve your tension and give respit...
I have been hosting a variety of briefings and doing media interviews this week, putting into perspective many of the complicated, frustrating, and scary things that Israel is undergoing and enduring this week. Today I read a vile comment that Israel’s goal is “dead Palestinians and bombed out buildings.” There are abundant ways that this malice is not the case. If that were the case, rather than only 69 casualties (according to the terrorists in Gaza who typically like to inflate their suffering), there would be 6900, or 69,000 deaths. Israel...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — Palestinian terror groups such as Hamas have a surefire strategy to win over the world’s sympathy: fire rockets into Israeli territory, trigger an Israeli response and wait for the global outrage against Israel’s response. The strategy is effective because Israel is so darn good at protecting its citizens from missile attacks, thanks to ubiquitous bomb shelters and a sophisticated Iron Dome missile defense system. So, if the terror rockets don’t kill any Jews, but the forced retaliations kill Palestinians, anyone...
(JNS) — Throughout the month of Ramadan, the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority and Hamas have been inciting Arab Israelis in Jerusalem and throughout the country to attack Jews. And so it happened that at the outset of the month, Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa and beyond found themselves beset by gangs of Arab thugs who beat them on the streets and light-rail cars just because they were Jews. Last week, Hamas’s leaders announced their detailed plans to open a new campaign against Israel on May 9. May 9 was a conflation of three events: Jer...
I watched the tragedy in Meron on Lag Ma’omer in the wee hours on Friday morning on on-site video broadcast on the Internet from Israel. I grieved and agonized over the loss of life and the enormity of the tragedy, and then it hit me: young members of my family in Israel, could be there. Being religious and very observant, they would go to the place considered to be the grave of the second century Tana, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, for spiritual enrichment and prayers. It was very early for a telephone call, so I sent a message to my brother a...
(Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies via JNS) — Rarely do politicians have the opportunity to test the implications of their policy within a day. In Israel, the land of miracles, such an opportunity occurred on May 9-10, when the Israeli government and its more than willing officialdom decided on Jerusalem Day to follow in the footsteps of the 1930s British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain: total appeasement of an implacable enemy. This began with the acquiescence of the judicial branch — one that famously doesn’t bow to external press...
As I sit here writing this, my phone keeps buzzing with red alert after red alert. Red alert - incoming rocket! As I check to see where it is, I selfishly breathe just a small sigh of relief that it's not in Jerusalem or Beit Shemesh since that's where some of my kids are (the others are with me). I am grateful that it is not where I am sitting, but the sigh is very small, almost half a sigh. The reality is that no matter where it is, I still feel angry for the people who have no more than 10 se...
Dear Editor: I am writing in response to the letter recently published written by William J Levy from Ormond Beach, Florida (May 7, “Why aren’t we fighting back against anti-Semitism?”). While I can appreciate Mr. Levy’s concerns, I have to get additional information regarding to whom he is referring. Is he referring to the “run of the mill” antisemites or to the less obvious anti-Jewish sentiment expressed over the last 1,500 years by the Muslims. It does make a big difference in how one should respond. Is he referring to the late Rabbi Meir...
MORNING MINYANS (Please note, because of the coronavirus, some minyans have been canceled or held virtually.) Chabad of North Orlando and Chabad of Altamonte Springs are holding in-person minyans. Chabad of South Orlando — Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. and 10 minutes before sunset; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 8:15 a.m., 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael — Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-644-2500. Congregation Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Daytona — Monday, 8 a.m.; Thursday, 8 a.m., 904-672-9300. Congr...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, where he double-downed on his “unwavering support” for Israel’s security amid more than 1,300 rockets fired on the country from terrorist factions in the Gaza Strip. According to a read out of the call from the White House, Biden “condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.” Furthermore, it said that the president “conveyed his unwavering support for Israel’s security and for Israel...
(JNS) - The Roman-era oil lamp recently unearthed in Jerusalem may be the missing half of a similar artifact found in Budapest nine years ago, the City of David Foundation announced on Sunday. Mere hours after publication of the discovery of the "lucky" lamp shaped like a grotesque half face, Hungarian archaeologist Gabor Lassanyi contacted Ari Levy, director of Israel Antiquities Authority excavations at Jerusalem's City of David National Park. "Nine years ago, in an excavation we conducted at...
BERLIN (JTA) – The number of politically motivated crimes rose sharply in Germany last year, including a 15 percent rise in antisemitic offenses. The total documented by the country’s federal police force is the highest since contemporary record-keeping began in 2001. German officials said new efforts are underway to help police officers identify antisemitic crime. The annual report by the Federal Criminal Police Office released Tuesday showed an 8.54 percent increase in political crimes over 2019, to 44,692 crimes, German Interior Min...
(JTA) — On Tuesday, Israel found itself fighting what may be another war in Gaza. And American Jews are watching. Israel and Hamas, the militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, have already traded hundreds of airstrikes and missiles since Monday. Dozens of Palestinians and two Israelis have lost their lives — a number that is likely to rise. As the eyes of the world turn again to violence in Israel, Jews in the United States will be paying attention and speaking out. During past conflicts, American Jewish groups from across the pol...
Danielle Catherine Allen, the daughter of Cheryl Heller-Allen and Paul Allen, will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on May 29, 2021, at Congregation of Reform Judaism. Danielle is a 7th-grade student at Indian Trails Middle School, where she plays clarinet and is a part of the Indian Trails Symphonic Band. She is also an active Cadette member of Girl Scout Troop 1143 where she is working on her Silver Award. Her biggest passion is Irish dancing. She was scheduled to compete in 2020 at the World Irish Dancing Championships in Ireland,...
UPDATE: Israel’s announcement of a ground operation in Gaza may have been intended to misdirect Hamas militants. While the Israeli army bombarded Gaza on Thursday, the army later clarified that troops did not enter the territory. (JTA) — Israel’s army unleashed a wider military attack on Gaza Thursday night, inaugurating a new phase in a conflict that has claimed dozens of lives in the last several days. The war has already reached several milestones in a region accustomed to conflict. Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza, has sent...
Kudos to Marci Gaeser, Sharon Littman and Jewish Pavilion volunteers for making Shavuot extra special for the seniors this year. The Jewish Pavilion provided more than 350 seniors with goodie bags for the holiday that included dairy snacks and information about Shavuot. The ladies spent an entire day packaging wonderful gifts for Jewish Pavilion elders whom they cherish. Pictured left to right are Pam Ruben, Shirley Schoenberger, Marci Gaeser, Sharon Littman and Susie Stone, who is the chair of...
